Excellent. Wheels up on mine. Be good to have this fella back in my life and so much looking forward to the better joints.

 

and here we go, waiting for replacement

 

Anyone willing to sell the axe?

 

How does it compare with the original?

 

I like the matte paint more, joint are better overall, got mine for 140usd vs 400usd for the original
I sold the original sometime ago so no comparison pic

 

Got mine in and having messed around with him for a while, there's some very good and very bad here.



The Good:

Joint tolerances overall are far better than the original. This is a big deal to me as it's probably the driving reason why I let that one go.

The muted red paint is preferable to me personally.

The deco itself is beautiful and crisp, well on par with the Flame Toys version.



The accessories have always been spot on. The inclusion of that ridiculously large axe is delightful.

It's always been a fucking cool looking thing and the KO loses precious little visually in that regard. I'd need to see an actual side by side comparison, but comparing it to my older pics of the original, I'm hard pushed to see any issues with the sculpt itself.



Insane crotch game.

The Bad:

Ooooft, where to begin..



Left titty window was broken at the hinge out of the box. I can still pose him with the windows open. I'll look at sourcing a replacement part and if I can't I might just glue it as the light up feature looks best with them closed anyway. It's not a massive deal as is unless you display your figures upside down.



Right leg was fused at the outward thigh hinge out of the box. I think an excess of glue caused it. Now that could've been make or break. Some shock oil and balls sorted that but yikes.

Certain joints are now arguably too tight. The neck and head, outward arm joints and upper knee bends in particular. Shock oil again may be required, but regardless exercise caution and brace when breaking them in.

The jet pack only tabs into the top slot.



This one was a real bastard. The spinal linkage system above fucked itself after a couple of ab crunches, got stuck and then popped out, resulting in me having to fix. Which I did with surprising success. So go me.



I think both this and the window break were down to how the figure was put in the clamshell, which wasn't pretty. He was bursting out of it and several parts had popped off. That's real fucking annoying.

The Ugly:

Hands are horrible to swap out. You'll need to heat them.

Hopefully it's just my batteries (although they are a name brand and fresh out of the pack), but he's burned through one set already in a matter of hours of messing about with him. Thirsty boy!



Despite my issues, I'm actually pretty happy. I've fixed all problems bar one and I'm sure a replacement piece can be sourced by Show Z. And hopefully my problems are not endemic, they don't seem to be anyway.

The original still commands its RRP if not more, and I've never felt comfortable with Flame Toys pricing. This is a much more palatable option for anyone who fancies a punt, but still, based on my own experience with the piece.. buyer beware.

 

Thank you so much for your impressions! I still have the original posed on my desk, but I do like the look of the matte red paint over the original glossy paint. I passed on the KO of FT Tarn since it didn't seem like an upgrade over the original plus I didn't really care about the exclusive item... in this case, the matte red paint and tighter joints seem like a nice upgrade, plus I love the turbo jet axe exclusive. Honestly I feel like those types of weapons shouldn't be exclusives, but whatever :/

That's too bad about the breakages and overly tight or broken ab crunch. My original FT Prime actually isn't loose in any of his joints (or at least it's fine enough to get in any pose without issues), but I definitely have some loose hip joints with my FT Drift. But credit to FT's QC, I've never had issues where articulation didn't work at all, I guess, and the hands are easier to swap out than Bandai Metal Build figures. I'll definitely take your warnings seriously when I get my MC KO this week, especially with his ab crunch and hands.

 

The same side window on mine arrived broken as well. Same way at the peg.

 

Did he look like he'd been put in the clamshell a bit half heartedly when you opened the box?

 

Anyone know what batteries are needed for this guy's chest/head? (Not bothered about his light up legs). Mine didn't come with any (I assume that's the same for everyone?), and I can't find an exact model. Thanks  

 

I didn't pay attention when I opened it.

 

LR41/AG3.

'Did you forget who I am?'



Accidental TLK pose. Don't hate me for being inspired by genius.

 

Got my Muscle Bear Prime today. So far no QC issues at all, though no batteries were pre-installed. Some joints are tighter than my authentic Flametoys Prime, but I guess I got lucky since my authentic one isn't really loose anywhere. The waist and elbows of the KO are a tad bit looser than authentic, though everything else is nice and tight. I fiddled with all the articulation and everything seems fine, no noticeable paint blemishes or stuck joints, and thankfully no breakages at the chest windows.

I agree that the hands are more difficult to replace than the authentic one, but I didn't need a hair dryer or anything to replace it. I do worry that there are possibly some stress marks on the ball peg for the wrist, but perhaps that's just my imagination. I absolutely love this hefty turbo axe though, far more than any of his other accessories, so this was a worthy purchase just for that.

I kinda go back and forth regarding the paint - in some lights I do prefer the matte paint of the KO over the original, but it's not necessarily an upgrade over the glossy paint - just a matter of preference. At this point I'm not sure if I'll keep both or just sell my original Flametoys Prime (probably along with Drift) and only keep my Flametoys Megatron and Tarn. I didn't like the Muscle Bear Tarn enough to bother replacing the original.

 

Mine just came in. I think my left chest piece is broken too. It’s not off but definitely floppy and loose. Only other thing is the visor had come unglued during shipping.


Gonna keep messing with him and see if he is a keeper.

 

I got my copy in over the weekend. Joints are a nice and snug, paint job is almost flawless and not missing any accessories. However, I can't get the screws off the knee pads to access the battery compartments, maybe I'll try another screwdriver, but those things are really in there. Additionally, the backpack really had to be wedged on there to get both tabs on there. However, when I removed the backpack, 2 tiny little grey tabs broke off, but I have no idea where they came from as they don't seem to serve a purpose for any of the functionality of the backpack, for all I know it could have been excess plastic that was not cleaned off. Either way, this is a good alternative for folks like me who did not want to pay the retail price for the official one.

 

Not perfect but here's hoping   (ie., get a replacement bit from showzstore):

 

My Metal Club Musclebear OP (Optimus Prime) came in the mail today, ordered via TF-direct. I'm happy to say that all electronics are functioning perfectly and it came with all the accessories. The tolerances for most joints are well done, nothing too loose (other than a couple pieces, but I'll get to those). As other members have mentioned the rubberized hands are a bit tight on the ball joint, so applying heat was a must in my case. Stress marks are already apparent on the ball joints, so I need to handle with care going forward. Paint is spot on for the most part, other than a blemish on the right knee pad (see picture).

The QC issue I had was the broken left chest window. The piece is broken at pretty much the same point as everyone else. I can see that the hinging arm that allows the window to flip up is made of translucent plastic which does not have the best reputation as a durable material. The combination of Prime being loosely packed in plastic clam shell and the overall increase in weight due to more diecast use for the KO, means that this piece was likely break during shipping no matter what. Its too late for a remedy, but I think going forward for any other potential Flame toys KOs, Metal Club should steer clear of plastic clam shells and maybe opt for foam. The smokestacks and kneepads were also loose in the packaging but were not broken thankfully.

Another point of contention I have is the battery use. It's not draining the batteries but it does use a lot of LR41's/AG3's. 3 in the back battery cavity for the light up matrix and eyes and 2 per kneepad making 7 batteries used total. There was a stress mark in the cover plate for the back battery cavity, so another thing to be cautious about when replacing the batteries.

Ultimately, I still believe that despite the QC issues, this figure is definitely the worth price. I always wanted the genuine article, but I came too late to the party and aftermarket prices had reached absurd levels. This KO pretty much provides the full experience of the authentic product with some QC issues. For the broken left chest piece, it is annoying but it's not an issue for me as at no point was I considering displaying Prime with his chest open. Be wary of the rubberized hands as there are tight out of the box, but other than that, I definitely recommend this figure.

 

haha everyone seems to get the same issue with broken window, I just glue them back. Now mine is perfect. Still waiting on the replacement mask since mine come with 2 of the same one.
You need to straighten the peg inside his chest so the broken part facing up. Then apply a little glue there and put the window in. leave it for a while. Mine worked right after first try

 

Apparently a new version came out with better QC and materials.

Here's to hoping one comes out for Hot Rodimus because god damn that price is now ridiculous.